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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

More Musings on Blasphemy

Blogger indicates that this is my 1000th blog post. I aim to continue posting regularly and promise my imaginary readership many more posts about my pond, my dogs and my new string trimmer.

When I was a kid, I was taught that thinking of a sin was just the same as doing it. Moreover, there was an unforgivable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, which was a ticket straight to hell, no passing Go and no collecting $200. When I thought about the unforgivable sin, however, I found myself worrying that I was blaspheming the Holy Ghost right then in my mind and that it was all hopeless. If you tell yourself not to think about a green elephant, you can be damn sure a green elephant image will pop up in your mind. The same goes for mental blasphemy, especially if you have a rather broad view of what it means to blaspheme.

I have since come to believe that it takes a lot more to blaspheme the Holy Ghost than involuntarily conjuring up some insult in your mind. Blasphemy must be broadcast and is akin to slander. I reckon that those who blaspheme the Holy Ghost most egregiously are those who give the Holy Ghost credit for or blame for evil. The Holy Ghost doesn’t work evil or inspire it, so anyone who claims that the Holy Ghost is at work in acts of violence is a blasphemer. Warmongering preachers of the religious right come to mind as blasphemers of this sort. Murder and mayhem are not fruits of the Holy Ghost; rather, love and mercy are such fruits.

These defamers have enabled the neo-conservative death cult by lending the imprimatur of religious legitimacy to their murderous program. The neo-cons believe that religion is the “opiate of the masses”, but unlike Lenin and Stalin are willing to use religion to influence and control the masses for their own pursuit of power. They themselves believe in nothing beyond their own striving for power, and they doubtless laugh at the defamers and their followers who distort and pervert the teachings of Jesus in such a blatant manner. They need not concern themselves that the tenets of the religion that they are exploiting utterly contradict their agenda and program because the blasphemers are so obliging and their followers so clueless.

These defamers have brought the Church into disrepute and have invited ridicule and censure. On the day of judgment, they will be given the gift of shame which now is lacking in them. On that day, they will be given the gift of self awareness and discernment of what they have wrought.